A43 File Management Utility (Explorer Replacement)

BG's Home

"A43 is a freeware file management utility for Windows 2000/XP.

Integrated text editor with unlimited size. Dynamic highlighting for the web.

Integrated zip/unzip features. Simply drag-n-drop files or click a button. You can also turn your zip archives into self-extracting archives the same way.

Integrated file search to quickly locate and jump to those lost files.

Integrated quick launch area for fast access to the programs you use the most.

Favorite buttons to quickly open those often used folders.

Dual-pane view for those that demand speed in file management.
Requires no installation, no data is written to the system registry.

A43's configuration information is saved in a local .ini file.
Keep it on your pen/jump drive and take it where ever you go. ..."

The "nothing to install, run from a thumb/pen/jump drive" is interesting.

While I'm not really into Exploder replacements, I'm going to take a look at this one...

(via Jeremy Wagstaff's LOOSE wire - Another Explorer Replacement)

SQL Full Text Search: IFilters or Indexing Filters used with SQL FTS...

SQL Full Text Search: IFilters or Indexing Filters used with SQL FTS...

"Indexing Filters, or more commonly shortened to IFilters, play an important role in Microsoft's Search technology starting with Indexing Server 1.0 on Windows NT 4.0 (see "Anatomy of a Search Solution") and have been enhanced and added to by not only Microsoft, but by many 3rd party independent developers and software vendors (ISV's). Many of the IFilters are free or relatively low cost and cover many file types formats or extensions. IFilters are an established and open standard that is documented on Microsoft's MSDN and code examples and utilities are available in Microsoft's Platform SDK (PSDK).

...

Interestingly, other software vendors, such as Oracle Text also uses Stellent's Outside In Technology. Furthermore, the Google Mini Search Appliance supports searching in 220 file formats, which is approx. the same number of file formats supported by Yahoo's X1 for their desktop search. I am not surprised by this as I'm sure that many other search vendors are using the Outside In technology from Stellent.

..."

Stellent, how well I know you...

Anyway this post has more IFilter info, more links to IFilter providers, etc. And more info/link for the very cool, IFilter Explorer 1.0

SQL Server Enterprise Manager Tip: Printing Diagrams

SQL Server Enterprise Manager Tip: Printing Diagrams

"This is one of those simple tips you could overlook for years, as have I.

In Enterprise Manager, when you try to print database diagrams, the insane things always end up straddling multiple pages. It's a nightmare trying to get a nice simple print out.

...

Right-Click and select the option 'View Page Breaks'. Now you can rearrange your tables to avoid page breaks. And a neat print out is as easy as pie.

I'm kicking myself, wishing I'd noticed this sooner."

LOL. Man, how long have I been using Enterprise Manager? sigh...

I used to hate Enterprise Mangler's (err... um I mean Enterprise Manager... yeah.. that's it) Diagramming and have stayed as far as possible, preferring to use ERWin.

But ERWin is expensive and doesn't yet support SQL 2K5. So I thought I was going to be stuck with Visio for my DB diagrams. You see, printing a diagram is a big part of my DB design process. I take the printout, wander around looking at it, think on it, play it out in my head, mark it up, wash rinse repeat.

So printing a usable DB diagram is critical to me. And I thought EM's diagram printed.. well.. um... sucked?

Now I know better. Grr. Live and learn.

Thanks to the Leon Bambrick (aka the SecretGeek) for pointing this out.

Pogo Products EZPower Universal Remote: No Batteries Required

Gizmodo : Pogo Products EZPower Universal Remote: No Batteries Required

"Pogo Products' new EZPower Universal remote looks great. Not because its a universal remote, which replace the convenience of a few different remotes with the nightmare of figuring out how to program an all-in-one device, but because it takes no batteries at all. Instead, give the knob at the bottom a few turns and you'll have enough juice to power the EZPower for a week at a time. Even better? It's only $25. ..."

Now that's cool... And the timing is outstanding as I have a remote that's on its last legs (the scotch tape holding it together is a sure sign...)

.NET XSLT Command Line Utility

.NET XSLT Command Line Utility

"nxslt is a small but feature-rich command line utility that allows to perform XSL Transformations (XSLT) using .NET Framework's XSLT implementation - System.Xml.Xsl.XslTransform class. nxslt basically duplicates functionality and command line options, provided by Microsoft's MSXSL.EXE Command Line Transformation Utility with small difference: unlike msxsl.exe, nxslt does not support specifying start mode. In addition, nxslt has some distinct advanced features, like support for XInclude, embedded stylesheets, custom URI resolving, multiple result documents, custom extension functions, built-in rich library of EXSLT extension functions etc. See nxslt and msxl.exe for more info.

..."

Sounds cool.

This is something I might be able to use. And something my users might be able to use... The embedded stylesheet support might be the key feature for me. Will have to see...


(via Signs on the Sand - ANN: nxslt.exe (.NET XSLT Command Line Utility) version 1.5

Creating Site Roll-ups in Sharepoint with RSS

Creating Site Roll-ups in Sharepoint with RSS

"Roll-ups of information from several (top-level or nested) Windows Sharepoint Services sites has been a "nice-to-have" feature mentioned in several Sharepoint projects I've been involved with. Commercial solutions is available in the market, like the CorasWorks package. However these solutions tend to be too expensive to justify.

By using a combination of RSS feed generation and RSS feed consumption webparts (both opensource or freeware) it is possible to create roll-up like functionality with minor configuration effort.

The Leadit.Sharepoint.Services, written by Jan Tielens, provides an RSS feed for every site in the portal, and the SmilingGoat FeedReader displays such feeds in a webpart. (More Sharepoint RSS solutions listed by Daniel here).

..."

Simple, yet effective, way of creating SharePoint roll-ups.

I like it because it's dual purpose. The subsite RSS feeds can be used individually by interested users as well as for the roll-up. And of course the price is just right...

RIAA Sues Deceased Grandmother

BetaNews | RIAA Sues Deceased Grandmother

"The recording industry's latest assault on file sharing has netted an unusual suspect: a deceased great-grandmother from West Virginia. In a lawsuit filed in January, the RIAA accused 83-year old Gertrude Walton of sharing over 700 pop, rock and rap songs under the alias 'smittenedkitten.'

What the RIAA didn't know is that Walton had passed away in December following a long illness. Her daughter, Robin Chianumba, has lived with Walton for the past 17 years and told the Charleston Gazette that her mother refused to even have a computer in the house.

..."

LOL. RIAA is at it again...

I'm all for paying for value received (i.e. I'd rather buy my music than steal it), but RIAA's actions just rub me the wrong way... There has to be a better way for them get the results they want.

Or maybe not. Maybe the entire music production and distribution industry needs to be reworked from the ground up. Then again, since I don't know jack about the music production and distribution, maybe I should just shut up...

:|

MS SQL Server to FireBird migration

The Code Project - MS SQL Server to FireBird migration. That's a Pain! - C# Database

"Recently I read article Embedded Firebird at Code Project and decided to try FireBird. I like the idea of embedded database. FireBird allows .Net developer to put a dll into bin directory, create database file and use usual database access. It sounds very attractive and simple. In theory. So I decided to migrate from SQL Server to FireBird.

..."

This article covers some lessons learned when migrating an app (and experience) from MS SQL to Firebird.

Through I don't necessarily agree with conclusion of the article's author (i.e. um.. of course it's not plug and play... it's a totally different DB engine. Of course there will be things you are not used to, that work different, etc...) it still contains some good info...

If I play with FireBird like I talked about here, then this info might come in handy.

Some Friday Humor

Friday fun....

"This was shared on the NT SysAdmin email list today.

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic(absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different Religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you" and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God"
"

MSDN .NET Framework Developer Center: Designing .NET Class Libraries

MSDN .NET Framework Developer Center: Designing .NET Class Libraries

"The Designing .NET Class Libraries series presents design guidelines for developing classes and components that extend the .NET Framework. The goal of the Designing .NET Class Libraries series is to encourage consistency and predictability in public APIs while enabling Web and cross-language integration. The guidelines presented in Designing .NET Class Libraries are intended to help class library designers understand the trade-offs between different solutions. There might be situations where good library design requires that you violate these design guidelines. Such cases should be rare, however it is important that you provide a solid justification for your decision.

..."

Topics Include:
Introduction
Naming Conventions
Rich Type System
Member Types
Designing Inheritance Hierarchies
API Usability
Designing Progressive APIs
CLR Performance Tips
Designing for a Managed Memory World
Understanding Interoperability
Packaging, Assemblies and Namespaces
FxCop in Depth
Enabling Development Tools
Security
Q&A


I want to check these when I next get the chance. I'll be revising/rewriting a framework in the near future and this info might help...

(via Scooter's Musings - Check Out MSDN's New Center: Designing .NET Class Libraries

RSS to Webpart Transform

x5 Windows SharePoint Services RSS

"XSL converts RSS to a native Windows SharePoint Services DataViewWebPart DWP file.

No binaries, installation or server configuration necessary.
Supports RSS versions 0.90, 0.91, 0.92, 1.0, and 2.0.
Supports the Atom Syndication Format 0.3.
Supports Microsoft's Channel Definition Format.
Html output is similar to the links list summary view.
Title, Description, and DetailLink come from the RSS channel element.
RSS 2.0's time to live attribute or RSS 1.0's syndication module are used to determine cache time for the webpart.
Please email me any suggestions/bugs/fixes.
Absolutely free: MIT License.

..."

This is a pretty cool. Enter the URL for a RSS feed and download the DWP for a webpart of that feed. Sure there are other RSS readers for SharePoint, but the tech behind this one what is pretty cool.

XSL is used to transform the feed into a DWP, which can be downloaded too.

(via Fear and Loathing - Zero touch RSS Web Part)

steepvalley.net: XP Common Controls [XPCC]

steepvalley.net: XP Common Controls

"When I was starting to develop in VS.net I wanted that nice XP-Look for all of my Programs. The problem is, that VS.net 2003 shipped without most of them. The most missed controls where the Taskbox/Taskbar control and the Grouped ListView Contol.

I ran into some implementations of some of the controls on the internet (namely vbAccelerator and the TaskVision Sample on http://www.windowsforms.net ) and into a document provided by Microsoft named "Windows XP Design Guidelines" . This document provides detailed information on some of the new controls and I started to recreate some of these controls for VS.net (with hints and help from the sites mentioned above - thank you again!)

The one feature I wanted to have with the XP Controls was theming. But since it always needed some direct dll calls to uxtheme.dll I wrote my own theming dll. This has some positive and some negative effects.

Positive:

It runs on any OS that supports the .net-Framework; means it will run on non-XP Systems like Win95 and Win2000. That said, I must also tell you that the theme listener and the grouping and tiling of the XPListGroup won’t work without Win XP.

..."

Man I can't believe I've not posted about this before. These are some very cool looking .Net UI components.

You can find the list of components here.

And it has a great license.
"The controls plus the source code are completely free to use. There are no cost at all attached to this project. "

More stuff to play with. :)

(via Code/Tea/Etc. - Free XP Themed Windows Forms Controls)

GMail Invites (Last Time... I Promise)

If there's anyone left who doesn't have a GMail account, and wants one, send them my way.

I have 50, yes five-zero, invites that I can give out.

Email me at gduncan411 >at< gmail you know... Need a first and last name and an email address to send the invite to. No strings attached, first come, first served, etc, etc.

Given how easy it's become to get a GMail invite, this will be the last time I post about it...(Really... truly... hopfully...)

SQL Server Service Broker: samples and tools for the [near] future...

SQL Server Service Broker: samples and tools for the [near] future...

"Today I've found a great post about possible tools and samples for SQL Server Service Broker on www.sqlservicebroker.com:

- External Activator - (This is a work in progress. Similar to our internal proc activation, this is an NT Service that launches service programs outside of SQL Server (ie. .exe). Allows configuration of things like min, max, etc. Logs all activity and even recovers (based on the log) in the event of unexpected shutdown.) We plan to deliver this sample to you in the next couple of months, maybe by the end of February. It has no GUI, the config is an XML file that the program monitors for changes. Any good GUI writers out there want to build an admin interface for this?

- Broker-based chat - This is also a work in progress, but on a slower ship schedule.

- IE protocol handler - Offline browing anyone? This is a protocol handler that talks to a back-end broker service via dialogs that in turns talks to web sites / SOAP-based services. Another sample that we are working on slowly as a back-burner project. The purpose of the sample is to illustrate how to bridge dialogs to other technologies.

- Auto-route populater - This sample will respond to the broker's notifications of missing routes by fetching routes from a master and adding them, thereby allowing stalled conversations to continue. One example of this is being worked on currently. Many variations makes sense given how many different ways customers like to store their "master" meta-data: LDAP directories, UDDI, custom solutions, etc.

- Broker-based scheduler - Reliable, distributed scheduling based on the arrival of messages, time, completion of another scheduled task, etc.

- Broker diagnostic dashboard - The idea behind this is to build a command / control style interface that allow for quick diagnosis of the health of a given service and its conversations. This could be much bigger than this even, but that gives you the basic idea.

- Paging service - Service that accepts incoming requests via dialogs and translates them to alpha pages or cell phone messages.

- Emailer service - Same as above, except for email.

- Pub / Sub Service - Service that matches up publishers and subscribers and takes cares of delivering a given incoming messages to all of the subscribers. Broker-based spam anyone? Just kidding.

- Broker Explorer - GUI-based creation and maintenance of broker objects. I know of one of these being built.

- Visual Studio wizards - Wizards to simplify creation of service broker applications."


People seem to be having a hard time getting their hands around the new SQL Server 2005 Service Broker. These samples (if they come to light) might go a long way toward helping with that...

[Languages] Another .NET language list

[Languages] Another .NET language list

"I just found a new .NET language List at Brian Ritchie's Dotnetpowered.com site and discovered a couple of .NET languages that are news to me. In particular, it looks like the ADA community is now on the boat with A#, a port of ADA to .NET..."

That's cool. I want to code against the .Net framework in ADA... Not really sure why, I guess it just sounds cool?

And if that's not enough, on the .NET language List I see there's SmallTalk, LISP and more.

Looks like my Programming Language of Year (used to be Language of the Month, but then my brain got full...) club will be busy for a while.... :|

Capturing the current directory from a batch file

Capturing the current directory from a batch file

"Sometimes people go to great lengths to get information which is available in a much simpler way. We saw it a few days ago when we found a 200+-line C# program that could be replaced with a 90-byte batch file. Here's another example of a rather roundabout way of capturing the current directory from a batch file.

The easy way is to use the %CD% pseudo-variable. It expands to the current working directory.

set OLDDIR=%CD%
.. do stuff ..
chdir /d %OLDDIR% &rem restore current directory

(Of course, directory save/restore could more easily have been done with pushd/popd, but that's not the point here.)

The %CD% trick is handy even from the command line. For example, I often find myself in a directory where there's a file that I want to operate on but... oh, I need to chdir to some other directory in order to perform that operation.

set _=%CD%\curfile.txt
cd ... some other directory ...
somecommand args %_% args

(I like to use %_% as my scratch environment variable.)

Type SET /? to see the other pseudo-variables provided by the command processor."

I don't do command/batch coding enough so every time I do it seems I have to relearn everything (I really wish my Brain 2.0 [Expanded Storage Edition] order would arrive)

I've needed this in the past, and instead used a lame (i.e. hard coding) approach.

Now if I could just find where I put that batch file... :|

dtSearch: Not Dead. Not Yet.

Jeremy Wagstaff's LOOSE wire: dtSearch: Not Dead. Not Yet.

"...I still stick for most of my searching with dtSearch. It's expensive, it's tough, it's ugly, but it gets the job done. And now they've added a feature which might not get you too excited, but for me is key: better viewers (or file parsers, if you want to get technical) for Microsoft documents.

..."

Just a reminder to myself to upgrade to the latest dtSearch version, 6.5.

The new index format comming in v7 sounds interesting...

WFTV.com - News - Emergency Broadcasting Test Mistakenly Calls For Connecticut Evacuation

WFTV.com - News - Emergency Broadcasting Test Mistakenly Calls For Connecticut Evacuation

"HARTFORD, Conn. -- Despite what residents may have seen on television, the state of Connecticut was not ordered evacuated Tuesday.

State emergency management officials believe someone pressed the wrong button, and instead of running a test of the emergency alert system, midday television viewers and radio listeners were told that the state was being evacuated.

..."

LOL... It must suck to evacuate an entire state. Those darn buttons. Can't they write a program to fix that?

"...State police said they received no calls related to the erroneous alert."

I guess it's good everyone ignored it.

:|

EWSoftware PDI Class Library

EWSoftware PDI Class Library

"The EWSoftware Personal Data Interchange (PDI) Library presents you with a complete set of classes that let you have access to all objects, properties, parameter types, and data types as defined by the vCard (RFC 2426), vCalendar, and iCalendar (RFC 2445) specifications. Using these classes, you can read and write data files in a well-defined format used by many applications on various platforms to exchange personal information such as business cards, telephone numbers, addresses, dates and times of appointments, etc. A recurrence engine is also provided that allows you to easily and reliably calculate occurrence dates and times for even the most complex recurrence patterns. The classes can be used in both Windows Forms applications and ASP.NET web applications.

..."

For some reason I think I'll need this... (silly subconsous...I wish it would get a clue :)

IEFavSynch - IE Favorites folder Synchronization Utility

GotDotNet User Sample: IEFavSynch - IE Favorites folder Synchronization Utility

"One afternoon I got tired of trying to keep the Favorites synchronized across all my PCs at home and work, so I wrote this neat little utility that zips up your IE favorites folder, password protects it, and FTP's it to your favorite site / folder. When you are at another PC somewhere else, just press a button and it gets your zip and unzips it into your current IE Favorites folder. Includes MSI Installer if you aren't interested in the source code. Illustrates use of FTP Library, ICSharpCode.ZipLib, Custom configuration file load / save, and other little 'tricks'. "

Sounds interesting. I also hate having all my machines with different fav's. Sure I've played with the online bookmarking, but none stuck.

I don't have a FTP space but I do have some web/webdav space. A little tweaking and I might be good... We'll have to see.

.NET VNC Viewer

.NET VNC Viewer

"Introduction
.NET VNC Viewer is a VNC viewer written entirely in C#. It is binary compatible with Pocket PCs (.NET Compact Framework) and Windows desktops (.NET Framework). I write this mainly because other VNC viewers on Pocket PC do not do full screen and rotation.

..."

Cool. Fits quite well with my wanting to play with VNC...

(via Larkware - The Daily Grind 551)

Cool Security Tools

(Security) Tools I frequently use

"...
MakeMeAdmin
Sysinternals tools (Regmon, Filemon, ProcExp, Autoruns)
PureText
MSN Desktop Search
IFilters for Desktop Search
Windows 2003 Resource Kit tools
XP Power Toys (TweakUI, Open Command Prompt Here)
DropMyRights
Adobe Reader Speedup
Group Policy Management Console
Microsoft AntiSpyware
Advanced Security for Outlook
Spamhilator
RMS Toolkit
..."

A very cool list of security tools from Mike Lonergan. Some I know/use, but some were new to me...

PrivBar -- An IE/Explorer toolbar to show current privilege level

PrivBar -- An IE/Explorer toolbar to show current privilege level

"I've long wanted a way to know at a glance whether I am logged in as a member of the all-powerful Administrators group, the slightly less-powerful Power Users group, or as an ordinary User. The more I use RunAs (including with Explorer)and MakeMeAdmin, the more I need to be able to distinguish privilege levels of various apps on my desktop. Someday I might try to come up with a robust way to do this for all windows on my desktop. For now, I've got PrivBar.

PrivBar is a toolbar for Explorer and Internet Explorer that shows you broadly at what privilege level that particular instance is running. ..."

A cool IE toolbar that shows you the basic privilege level of IE's user context (i.e. if the launching user is in the local admin, power users or users group.

A nice companion if your on the "Run IE as a normal user" ride...

Enabling host disk cache under Virtual PC

Enabling host disk cache under Virtual PC

"When you are running operating systems other than Windows NT / 2000 / XP / 2003 under Virtual PC you can gain a performance boost by enabling host side disk caching. This is not enabled by default as it is not architecturally correct behavior - but I have seen situations where it can result in a 25% speed improvement in disk I/O intensive applications.

You can enable host disk caching by starting Virtual PC with the '-usehostdiskcache'. This setting is then enabled globally on all virtual machines that you launch in that session.
Cheers,
Ben"

Nice tip if you're running non-NT based OS's as a VPC guest OS.